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Friday, 18 May 2012

TV: Love/Hate; A Brief Critique

For a recent application I had to write about a drama show that I hated and one that I admired. Below is the brief version of the critique I wrote:

In the last twelve months
there has been many great dramas and many poorly constructed ones.The programmes that stood out for me,
for different reasons, were Black Mirror (Channel 4) and Dirk Gently (BBC 4).

‘Black Mirror’ was given
some much adverting space leading up and during the time it was shown. It
boasted that it “taps into our contemporary unease about our modern world"
and that Charlie Brooker, the writer of the moment, wrote it. When it finally
aired and the story revealed, it felt as if it were a joke. After a member of
the Royal Family is kidnapped and held hostage, The British Prime Minister is
given an ultimatum, have sex with a pig on live television or she will be
killed. The plot is ridiculous and not in a clever satirical way, it is just
awful. The acting was fine, nothing to say about there. The production on a
whole was well done but all that is overlooked because the writing and story
are appalling. What is a drama without it’s story and characters.

For weeks it was
advertised as a dark comedy yet there was no a single moment where it was
amusing. Dark comedy comes from situations that aren’t meant to be funny but
are made to be. The entire ‘National Anthem’ episode was disturbing, it felt
like Charlie Brooker pulled a cheap shot; embarrass the Prime Minister but
making him perform an unspeakable act for entertainment.

On the other hand, Dirk
Gently, a drama programme about a self proclaimed Holistic Detective trying to
solve weird and wonderful crimes was a piece of brilliant television. This
detective show, adapted from the novels of the same name, was given close to no
advertising and was not hyped up. It was given modest reviews and had been
given a series after the success of the pilot episode that aired months before
it.

Each episode was creative
and original and very amusing. The casting was inspired; Stephen Mangan was
fantastic as the odd detective, he was free to experiment and was at his best
comic timing since Green Wing. The writing for each episode was also well thought
out, each episode had a purpose and was well constructed and all had a
surprising end. To describe Dirk Gently it is has a one star budget and a five
star script.

The only improvement to
the series would have been to make it twice as long as it was. Once the
audience has grown to love the characters they are deprived of any more
episodes. The drama is unique and cannot be compared to another, which is what
should be on television more often, unique programmes.